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Thursday, March 26, 2015

We are heading for home this weekend so I am packing up the projects I brought.

I completed all the crosses on my long-neglected Debbie Mumm 'Keep the Spirit'.

This pattern came out in 1997 and I think I bought it in the fall of 2001 in Tulsa at the first Camp Wanna Sew I attended. It will take additional research for me to figure out when I started it but maybe 4 years ago. It was awkward and cumbersome in my stitching chair at home so it got put aside and soon I forgot all about it.

I decided that it would be a good Florida project since I didn't have the same space restrictions...not to mention my thread loving cat, Murphy, is at home.

As of this morning, here it is.

Back when I originally set it aside I had completed most of the outlining on the areas I stitched. That leaves me with roughly half the outlining to carry on with at home. Knock on wood that I am far enough along that I won't quit again.

The next project I brought on this second, and shorter stay, is the third 'A Year In Chalk' by Hands on Designs. Phew, that dark fabric makes me work.

February is finished and at home. I will have to back track and get a picture next week.

Anyone else having trouble with Bloglovin'? I was reading along this morning and a window popped up asking me to sign in. Wasn't I already signed in? I never log in or out...just open the app and read all the newest posts in my feed. So, since I never log in I had to request a new password...which I got...but when I logged in it was like I was brand new to the app. All my blogs were gone. Was there an update that just needs to fix it? Boy, I hate it when something's is working so well then some mysterious gremlin ruins it.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

This project was Bonnie Hunter's Leaders and Enders challenge from the summer of 2013. The idea of Leaders and Enders is to have scraps around that you sew each time you are ready to pull something away from your machine...pulling a length of thread and snipping your current project away from your machine and wasting thread. If you had a little something to stitch you would save thread and sew a project while you are working away on your main projects.

What I have learned is that, for me, Leaders and Enders are too distracting. I tried just working up 10 blocks in between projects but that idea stalled out. I just have too many things going on to remember when I am actually between projects!

So, I cut scraps and spent a couple days working up blocks.

I had enough pieces and parts to make 100 of these blocks.

You really only get the full effect when you can stand way back and look.

I have at least 60 more blocks at home. That should be more than enough to make a good sized scappy quilt top.

Friday, March 20, 2015

The plumbers are hard at work replacing the water heater. The garbage disposal and faucet have already been put in. Progress. Wonderful progress.

As promised I am going to show you my latest (and prized) acquisition.

Being mindful of the fact that I am posting from my iPad you'll have to understand my lack of links.

On Monday I met up with my stitchy friend Lee, who is wintering in my general neck of the woods, at a wee little cross stitch store tucked into an old plaza in Largo. What fun we had. We poked through every nook and cranny of that little shop.

At one point Lee was looking through a box (that I am pretty sure was on a chair shoved in the corner) when she pulled a box off the floor. Turns out the box was brought in by someone who had cleaned out their patterns.

I know my appreciation of Prairie Schooler was late to arrive so I hardly have the right to such a wonderful find...but I will just love stitching this piece.

Book #15! Can't imagine how long this has been out of print.

That second price tag says 'Sunshine Price $1.88'. I don't know what that means but it was obviously for sale...maybe at a goodwill type shop. I'd like to think the pattern was stitched more than once. First by the original owner then a second time by whomever paid $1.88 for it. The pattern is in awful good condition, though.

At any rate, I plan to stitch it very soon.

What is even more impressive is that I didn't pay anything for it! Since it wasn't really part of the shop inventory, the shop owner just gave it to me! I am sure you all know what these sell for on eBay. It happened into grateful hands any how. Also, it reminds us that we need to visit brick and mortar stores and help keep them in business. You just never know what you will find.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

The end result was that the installers showed up at 8:40 this morning and got busy. There was another mad episode this morning but the installers figured out how to install the counter tops in the kitchen that THEY TEMPLATED AND PHOTOGRAPHED. Probably, more for my benefit than theirs, nobody was answering the phone at their employer's office yet.

I had actually just wiped the counter down and it is reflecting the curtain over the window. That's not a smear.

The Corian color is Savannah and looks like sand.

Tomorrow the plumber will come put the faucet in and reconnect the drain.

Woot. No more bathroom sink dishes.

Really, it is just me dirtying dishes. Once upon a time we remodeled a kitchen when I had 3 elementary school age children. This was a cake walk in comparison.

Once my husband arrives he can finish putting on the drawer pulls and the cupboard doors. The back splash will have to wait until some future unknown trip south.

I promise a stitching update. I acquired a pattern, for free, that I can't wait to show off.

Monday, March 16, 2015

A friend recently asked about the Florida house progress. Apparently once all the main kitchen renovation was done I never mentioned it again. It is certainly in the fore front of my mind!

Not related to the kitchen, I bought furniture for the loft and the sofa wouldn't fit up the stairs. I contacted the movers that moved our bare bones furnishings into the house in the first place and they sent me some muscle.

A shout out to Two Men and a Truck...awesome job. I won't mention the furniture delivery guys who showed up with an attitude and refused to even try. I should...but I won't.

This is what pulled up outside my house at 9am one morning....

Way more truck space than I needed. What I needed was the four men that came out of those two trucks.

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Even the most casual quilter has scraps. No matter how small a piece you tuck back into your stash...scraps happen.

A few years ago I started using Joan Ford's Scrap Therapy method once I was done cutting from a piece of fabric and it was time to scrap it. I also keep 2 1/2 inch strips in a basket, bias ends with the name of the fabric, and a few thin little strips to use in string piecing. Once I even tried to go through my scrap basket and cut things down to Joan's recommended sizes but that was just taking way too much time. So, the basket sat and every now and again I dug through it looking for something useful.

Fast forward to present day when I decided that I was tired of the box full of yet another part-way-finished project and I got busy focusing on that project. It's a scrappy leaders and enders project from Bonnie Hunter. She challenged quilters to create a 9 patch that would result in the block she used in creating the quilt on the header of her blog. While I failed at actually using leaders and enders I fully intend to create enough of those blocks to make a quilt.

So, I pulled out my scraps and my Go Cutter and got cranking.

I used the die with the 2 1/2 inch square and the half square triangles that work up to a 2 1/2 inch square. Boy that mat has seen better days.

My scrap basket...after I'd been pulling fabrics! I think the pieces left behind fluff up and fill all available space.

I've pulled the mat up off the die. Pieces stick to the mat and the die.

The beginnings of my pile.

I am heading to Florida tomorrow to wind up the kitchen project so I am taking a bag of these pieces to work on.

I have also packed my snowman cross stitch. What I am not taking is my computer. I will try to post from my ipad but no promises.

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